1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a magazine for feeding 22 caliber ammunition to a firearm. More specifically, the invention is a belt-fed magazine for a 22 caliber conversion kit or a non-converted 22 caliber firearm.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conversion kits for converting a large caliber handgun, rifle or submachine gun, collectively referred to herein as a “large caliber firearm,” into a 22 caliber firearm are known. Examples include the Ciener .22LR (Long Rifle) Conversion Kits available from Jonathon Arthur Ciener, Inc., of Cape Canaveral, Fla., USA, that readily reconfigure a large caliber firearm for .22 rim fire cartridge semi-automatic blowback operation. Specific Ciener Conversion Kits have been developed for a 9 mm or 0.40 S&W caliber Glock® handgun; a gas-operated 5.56 mm or .223 REM center-fire AR-15 or M-16 rifle; and a Thompson® submachine gun. In all cases, conversion to the smaller caliber allows the user to reduce the cost of operation by taking advantage of less expensive .22LR ammunition for target practice and recreational shooting, commonly referred to as “plinking.” A 22 caliber conversion kit also permits a firearm enthusiast to utilize an indoor firing range where use of a larger caliber firearm is prohibited due to overpower, noise restrictions and/or safety concerns. Smaller caliber ammunition is also less intimidating for novice enthusiasts and is less destructive to targets and the surrounding environment.
A typical 22 caliber conversion kit for a handgun includes a .22LR barrel, a slide and an ammunition magazine. The magazine is an essentially hollow, elongate, generally rectangular tube with an open end for loading the ammunition and delivering the ammunition to the firing chamber of the firearm. One of the problems associated with 22 caliber conversion kits, however, is that the magazine has limited capacity. Despite its limited capacity, the magazine is also time consuming and somewhat difficult to load. The magazine is loaded by pressing one round of ammunition at a time into the open end of the tube against the biasing force of a spring. The biasing force of the spring increases as each successive round of ammunition is loaded into the magazine against the previous round. The design of the standard magazine and the corresponding loading process is prevalent among almost all semi-automatic firearms, including non-converted 22 caliber firearms, such as the Ruger® 10/22 and 77/22 manufactured by Sturm, Ruger & Co., of Southport, Conn., USA. The limited capacity and the time required to load the magazine can be overcome by using belt-fed ammunition. However, current firearms must be provided with a non-standard ammunition receiver, or fitted with a device for converting the standard receiver of a particular firearm to accept belt-fed ammunition. Presently, there is no belt-fed magazine available for a 22 caliber conversion kit or a non-converted 22 caliber firearm. Accordingly, a belt-fed magazine for a 22 caliber conversion kit and a non-converted 22 caliber firearm is needed to increase the ammunition capacity of the magazine as well as reduce the time and effort required to load the magazine. Such a magazine should be suitable for use with both 22 caliber conversion kits available for various large caliber firearms and non-converted 22 caliber firearms with no additional alteration to the firearm.